Latest news with #Kilmar
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocacy organizations warn ‘we are all Kilmar'; pledge to fight for immigrant rights
Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, Chief of Organizing and Leadership Development for CASA Maryland, speaks during a press conference before Kilmar Abrego Garcia's arraignment and detention hearing in Nashville, Tenn. on June 13, 2025. (Photo: Cassandra Stephenson/Tennessee Lookout) Chants of 'Todos somos Kilmar' — 'we are all Kilmar' — punctuated a gathering of immigrant, labor, faith and civil rights organizations who gathered at a downtown Nashville church Friday ahead of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's arraignment. Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran native living in Maryland, was detained after a traffic stop in March and then deported to a Salvadoran prison under accusations of being a member of the MS-13 criminal gang. His deportation — which a Trump administration attorney admitted was done in error — has become a lightning rod for public opposition to the administration's immigration policies. 'Let's be clear: We are fighting because they are continuing to call this an administrative error, but there's nothing administrative about destroying a family, and this is not an error,' Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, a leader with immigrant advocacy group CASA Maryland, said. 'This is an intentional attack to Black and brown communities. Not just in Maryland, but all throughout this country, they are continuing to fight to erase us, and we must continue to stand up and resist,' she said. Abrego Garcia came to the United States illegally as a teenager. A 2019 immigration court order barred the government from sending him back to El Salvador, where he said he feared persecution. The El Salvador government returned Abrego Garcia to the United States in June to face human smuggling charges issued in a grand jury indictment in late May. The charges stem from a 2022 incident when the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over Abrego Garcia's SUV — which had nine Hispanic men inside — for speeding. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment at a Nashville federal courthouse Friday. The group of organizations that met on the steps of the First Lutheran Church also included the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), SEIU Local 205, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and The Equity Alliance. Vonda McDaniel, president of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, demanded fair treatment for Abrego Garcia, saying his case will not 'disappear in the shadows of a courtroom.' She also questioned the legitimacy of the charges against him, which were filed after his deportation. 'This is a clear attempt to criminalize Kilmar retroactively in order to justify what they did to him illegally, and to intimidate other immigrants (and) workers who might dare to fight back when their rights are violated … Today, we stand before you to demand justice, not vengeance,' McDaniel said. TIRRC Executive Director Lisa Sherman Luna spoke of the Tennessee legislature's recent actions, including a law that created an immigration enforcement division that is exempt from public records and created criminal penalties for local elected officials who 'adopt sanctuary policies.' Another law created a new crime for harboring or hiding immigrants without legal immigration status 'for the purpose … of private financial gain.' 'What happened to Kilmar Garcia is a chilling example of what could happen to any one of us, because it's exactly what happens when those in power put themselves above the law, when court orders are ignored, when people are disappeared, when due process is erased,' she said. 'Right now, immigrants are being used as pawns in a broader assault on our democracy.' Sherman Luna said Nashville specifically has been under 'full-scale assault' since ICE detained around 200 people, most of whom had no criminal records, from the city's most diverse neighborhoods in May. U.S. 'border czar' Tom Homan, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Trump administration officials have since denounced Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell for condemning the immigration detention sweep. 'There will be repercussions' Homeland Security official targets Nashville mayor over immigration After the detainments, O'Connell revised a 2019 executive order that requires some city employees to report interactions with federal immigration officials to the mayor's office, shortening the original 3-day timeframe to 24 hours. The mayor's office posted records of these reports, which inadvertently included the names of three federal immigration officials and one official's first name, according to O'Connell's administration. The posts were later removed. Tennessee GOP leaders have accused O'Connell of endangering immigration officials and interfering with immigration enforcement. O'Connell now faces an investigation by a U.S. Congressional committee, and Tennessee Republican state lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make it a felony for public officials to release immigration officers' names. The bill would also remove state and local officials from office. 'They criminalized the ability of local elected officials to protect immigrant residents, and now they're trying to make it a crime to even release the names of ICE officers, people with immense power operating without any public oversight,' Sherman Luna said. 'This is what governments do when they know they're acting outside of the law, when they're trampling on our rights (and) they want to do it with total impunity.' District 17 Metro Nashville Council member Terry Vo, who chairs the Immigrant Caucus, said the state legislature 'has already stripped Tennessee cities of the right to take care of our people, from banning sanctuary policies to restricting (minimum wage increases) and to blocking worker protections.' Cities in Tennessee and throughout the nation, she said, cannot 'comply in advance.' 'Let's not forget the freedoms we enjoy now were not gifted to us,' Vo said. 'They were fought for. They were sacrificed for.' Tequila Johnson, co-founder and vice president of The Equity Alliance, said it's the same system that 'locks up Black bodies' and 'is deporting immigrant families.' 'We owe it to our ancestors … to the people who died, who fought for these rights, to continue fighting,' Johnson said. 'Because just because hate isn't knocking at your door right now, doesn't mean it's not on your street.' Anita Wadhwani contributed. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife shares message ahead of hearing: ‘Continue fighting … God is with us'
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, in black dress, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is embraced by friends and supporters before speaking at First Lutheran Church in Nashville before Abrego Garcia's June 13 arraignment on federal trafficking charges. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran native who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown — shared a message from him with a crowd gathered at a downtown Nashville church ahead of his arraignment Friday morning: 'Continue fighting, and I will be victorious because God is with us.' About two blocks down the street, Abrego Garcia awaited his arraignment in federal court on criminal 'alien smuggling' charges and a hearing to determine whether he will continue to be detained until trial. Speaking to a crowd of immigrant rights advocates, union leaders and clergy, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said Thursday marked exactly three months since 'the administration abducted and disappeared my husband and separated him from our family.' It also marked the first time she was able to see him — albeit through a video screen. Hundreds of miles away, their son, Kilmar Jr., was in Maryland at his kindergarten graduation, she said. 'Our family should have never been in this situation,' she said, her voice choking with emotion. 'We should be with our children. Me and Kilmar's mind is here in Tennessee, but my heart is in Maryland with my kids … My son is alone on his big day, and I'm here fighting for my husband, for his dad, to come back home.' Abrego Garcia — a 29-year-old Salvadoran native living in Maryland, union sheet metal worker and father of three — was driving home with his five-year-old son when he was pulled over in March. He was detained and mistakenly deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison under allegations of membership in the MS-13 criminal gang. His family says they are false. A court order from 2019 expressly prohibited his deportation to El Salvador, where he fears persecution. The El Salvador government returned Abrego Garcia to the United States in June to face a grand jury indictment in Tennessee for one count of 'conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain' and one count of 'unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain' between 2016 and 2025. The indictment was issued May 21 but remained sealed until June 6. The charges are tied to a traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in November 2022, when Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding about 80 miles east of Nashville while driving an SUV with nine Hispanic men. No charges were filed at the time, but prosecutors now allege that the stop involved smuggling migrants within the United States. Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia spoke of faith and gratitude. 'To everyone who continues to support Kilmar and the fight for justice, Kilmar says, 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God has put us in this path together for a reason. He knows why He does it and what He does, and there's always a reason we have all come together at this moment,' Vasquez Sura said. 'Kilmar shares that he feels God's presence with him, as only God knows the darkness he has faced in these past three months,' she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Spectator
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Has deporting illegals become illegal?
The circus around Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia – whose full name the New York Times likes to trot out as if citing an old-school English aristocrat – speaks volumes about the immigration battle roiling the US. Our friend Kilmar is what we fuddy-duddies insist on calling an illegal immigrant. The Salvadoran crossed clandestinely into the US in 2012. As for what he's done since, that depends on whom you ask. According to his GoFundMe page, Kilmar is a 'husband, union worker and father of a disabled five-year-old'. Left-wing media portray 'the Maryland man' – a tag akin to Axel Rudakubana's 'a Welshman' – as an industrious metalworker devoted to his family. His wife has rowed back on the temporary protective order she once requested, claiming she'd been over-cautious. Yet according to the Trump administration, Kilmar is a member of the notoriously violent street gang MS-13 who's derived his primary source of income from smuggling hundreds of illegals over the southern border for several years. Choose A or B. In 2019, Kilmar was arrested for loitering along with three other men, one a suspected MS-13 member. He was carrying marijuana, for which (of course) he wasn't charged. From his clothing, tattoos and, more persuasively, a 'past proven and reliable' confidential source who verified he was an active gang member using the moniker 'Chele', police adjudged that Kilmar was a gangbanger, for which (of course) he wasn't charged. He was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement – whose acronym, ICE, reinforces its rep as cold-hearted – which moved to deport him. Kilmar (of course) contested his removal. The immigration judge hearing Kilmar's case concurred that the defendant was indeed a gang member and deportable; the Salvadoran (of course) appealed the decision, which nevertheless was upheld. Kilmar (of course) then filed for asylum, as well as for a 'withholding of removal'. A subsequent immigration judge stayed his deportation to his home country, where his wellbeing might be endangered by local gangs. Now, you might suppose that putting yourself in the way of other famously rivalrous gangs would come with the territory when you join one yourself. Like, inter-gang violence seems a natural hazard of this line of work. But it's not only British immigration judges who are soft touches. Only mass round-ups and swift group trials could effectively address the millions of gate-crashers Kilmar (of course) remained in the US. In 2022, he was pulled over for speeding while driving eight other Hispanic men of uncertain immigration status in an SUV altered to add a third row of seats for extra passengers. The officers suspected human-trafficking; Kilmar's driving licence had expired; a run of his number plate through the database turned up a federal note on likely membership of MS-13. Yet when the patrolmen contacted the feds, ICE (of course) declined to pick him up. So Kilmar was (of course) released without charge. Even so, his claim that he was merely transporting construction workers between jobs did not, under investigation, hold up. Fast-forward to 2025 and why this otherwise obscure Salvadoran who is or is not a thug merits such a detailed lowdown. Meaning (of course) that this case has to do with Donald Trump – whose evil minions in March flew more than 230 purported criminals to a Salvadoran prison, including none other than Kilmar, whom ICE did finally pick up (no 'of course' there). The flights' timing was judicially dodgy. The planes did or didn't take off after a federal judge ruled that the flights could not proceed until the deportees were given the opportunity to challenge their removal. The administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which directed Trump to 'facilitate' Kilmar's return to the US. Because, remember, there was only one country to which he could not be deported because of that credulous 2019 decision: his own. Hence the Justice Department's acceptance that Kilmar's deportation was an 'administrative error'. During this proxy war with Trump, Democrats have pretended to hair-tear over poor Kilmar, mouldering away in a nasty foreign prison and deprived of due process. But the story I just laid out has due process, not to mention leniency or even dereliction on the part of the authorities, up the wazoo. Meanwhile, after slyly getting their jurisprudential ducks in a row, last week Trump and co finally got Kilmar flown back to the US, only to arrest him immediately for human-trafficking – with every intention of convicting the guy and then deporting him right back to El Salvador. What do we make of this farce? The American commentariat has focused on a potential showdown between Trump and the judiciary, claiming to fear a flat-out executive refusal to follow court orders but secretly rather hoping that Trump does defy the courts and thus reveals himself as an unconstitutional tyrant. I view this absurd tale through a different lens. All these trials and flights for a lone illegal alien are expensive. The amount of 'due process' the American justice system affords every single illegal makes deportation at any scale impossible. There isn't enough time and money and there aren't nearly enough judges to make any but a token gesture toward the mass deportation of illegals that Trump has promised. That amounts to a victory not just for Democrats but also for disorder. I'd assess the odds that Kilmar is a thug at about 90 per cent. But proving membership of unofficial allegiances in court is a bastard. If every individual deportation case must be adjudicated according to exacting evidentiary rules and appeal procedures, America's drastic, undemocratic demographic change will proceed inexorably. Only mass round-ups and swift group trials could effectively address the staggering ten million gate-crashers during the Biden administration alone. What are the chances of that? In New York at the weekend, ICE raids were impeded by LA-style crowds of righteously indignant protestors screaming: 'Let them go! Let them go!' The officers just doing their jobs looked beleaguered, tired, numb and pre-defeated. After all the ICE agents' thankless labours, what proportion of their detainees will still get to stay in the country in the end? I'll take another stab at 90 per cent.
Daily Mirror
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Trump says he can 'bring back' man accidentally deported to torture prison - but 'won't'
President Donald Trump has refused to make the call to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele to discuss returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was wrongly deported due to being 'an MS-13 gang member' President Donald Trump has said he "could" bring back a man he had deported to El Salvador - but he "won't". Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran, was living with his American wife in Maryland when Trump had him sent to a high-security jail in the country. Trump was pictured the Oval Office, holding up a picture of the hand of Mr Garcia, accidentally deported to a Salvadoran torture prison, and have thus far refused to bring back despite the Supreme Court telling them they had to. Trump's administration claims Kilmar is a member of the MS-13 Mexican street gang. The cartel is known for dishing out extreme violence to achieve its objectives, meaning he should not be allowed to remain in the country. The White House first confessed there had been an error in Kilmar's deportation, but then claimed the US is powerless because he's now in El Salvador. But defiant Republicans are doubling down, saying they should not have to repatriate Kilmar after the Supreme Court said they must work to bring him back to his home in the US. On Tuesday, Trump flippantly told ABC News he could give El Salvador's president a call using the Oval Office telephone and ask for him to be returned. "I could", Trump said. 'And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that. But he is not.' Trump suggested that White House lawyers were running the show, saying that it was their decision and that they didn't want to help bring him back. At one point, the President pointed to an image of Kilmar that he claimed showed him with gang tattoos on his knuckles. The image has been challenged, with critics saying it has been digitally altered, adding an MS-13 tattoo that he doesn't actually have. "You'll pick out one man, but even the man that you picked out, he said he wasn't a member of a gang, and then they looked and on his knuckles he had MS-13," Trump said. The 29-year-old, who lived in the US for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and raised three children with disabilities, according to court records. He was removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month despite an immigration judge's 2019 ruling that shielded him from deportation to his native El Salvador, where he likely faced persecution by local gangs. Trump administration officials said he was deported based on a 2019 accusation from Maryland police he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said. The Trump administration later described the deportation as "an administrative error" but insisted he was in MS-13, an international criminal gang originally set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abrego Garcia's wife on domestic violence protective order: ‘No one is perfect'
(The Hill) — The wife of a Maryland man who the United States government mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador stood in defense of her husband while acknowledging that she filed for a civil protective order four years ago. 'After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,' Jennifer Vasquez Sura said in a statement to multiple outlets on Wednesday. Rapper Azealia Banks says she regrets Trump vote Sura rebuked President Trump's administration after the U.S. government recently shared filings from 2021 that showed she was looking for a protective order, accusing her husband of punching, scratching her and ripping her shirt off. The order prevented Abrego Garcia from getting in touch, and the Salvadorian national was directed not to abuse her. 'Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect,' Sure said. 'But that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from removal.' 'Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him,' she added. The Department of Homeland Security released a copy of the protected order on Wednesday. Abrego Garcia was deported to the Salvadorian high-security prison last month in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) said was an 'administrative error.' The U.S. government has contended that Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal, and a member of the MS-13 gang, based on the details provided by an informant in 2019. He has not been charged with a crime. Appeals court won't lift order to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return in blistering opinion Sura, Abrego Garcia and his attorney have denied the claims that he is a member of the transnational gang designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to lift a justice's order that the administration 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return and slammed the DOJ in the ruling. 'The relief the government is requesting is both extraordinary and premature. While we fully respect the Executive's robust assertion of its Article II powers, we shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court's recent decision,' U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson said. The White House amplified the publishing of Sura's protective order on Wednesday and went after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-M.D.), who traveled to El Salvador to visit the Maryland man currently held at CECOT prison. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is 'appalling' that Van Hollen and Democratic lawmakers are supporting the senator's trip to El Salvador, arguing they are 'incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens.' Nobody knows this more than the woman standing to my right, Patty Morin, whose beautiful daughter, Rachel, was brutally maimed and murdered at the hands of an illegal alien in August of 2023,' Leavitt said on Wednesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
